


leave a light on (for me)

by invisibledaemon



Series: 12 Days of Starmora [4]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Healing, Pillow & Blanket Forts, infinity war feelings, infinity war spec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-08
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-12 06:45:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12953613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/invisibledaemon/pseuds/invisibledaemon
Summary: After Infinity War, Gamora begins to heal





	leave a light on (for me)

**Author's Note:**

> 12 Days of Starmora day 4 - lights/fireworks

He finds her hunched over a table in the common area, polishing her already sparkling-clean sword. Her eyes are tired, gaze almost absent as she stares at her sword but doesn’t seem to actually see it. **  
**

“Gamora,” he says softly when she hasn’t turned around or otherwise acknowledged his presence.

She jumps a little in surprise, which is rare – she’s normally hyper-aware of her surroundings. In the four years they’ve been together, he’s only seen her like this a handful of times.

“What?” she asks, voice unconvincingly casual as she goes back to wiping her sword with the cloth.

He lays a tentative hand on her shoulder, going slowly so she has time to pull away. She doesn’t. “Are you ever planning to come to bed?”

“I am not tired.”

“You’ve been polishing that same spot for like five minutes,” he says.

She pauses, then grips the cloth hard in her fist and doesn’t say anything, refusing to meet his eyes. Peter’s pretty sure she’s trying not to cry, has been trying not to cry for weeks now.

“Gamora,” he says again. “He’s gone. You can sleep now.”

“I am–having trouble,” she admits in a whisper. “I know Thanos is gone, but everytime I close my eyes…” She trails off, shakes her head.

“I think I can help with that,” he says, and that gets her to look up, cautious hope in her eyes. “C’mon. Come to bed.”

They’ve only been back on the Quadrant for a few days now, having spent the last several weeks living on the Milano traveling back and forth between various planets, chasing after stones and a mad Titan who was always two steps ahead of them until finally,  _finally_  it was enough.

Peter’s not sure Gamora’s slept at all since they got the news that Thanos had gotten the power stone, even now that he’s gone for good and they’re back home.

Tonight, he’s decided to do something about it.

There’s a large sitting area in the Captain’s Quarters, which they’d claimed as their room all those years ago. Normally it’s just filled with arm chairs and assorted end tables they rarely use. It still is tonight, technically, but now they’re serving a purpose.

He turns to Gamora to see her reaction. She blinks, looking confused between him and the scene in front of them.

“What’s this?”

“This,” Peter says, taking her by the hand and leading her over, “is a blanket fort.”

He says this with all the pomp and grandeur of a scientist revealing their latest breakthrough. Gamora just stares at it, apparently unimpressed.

“How is it a fort?”

“What do you mean? It’s a fort.” He gestures to it again like he’s Vanna White.

“It’s a blanket over some chairs,” she says. “I don’t see how that’s supposed to protect us from anything.”

“Well, it’s not really.”

“Then how is it a fort? There’s no strategic value.”

“It’s a place to hide,” he says, pulling her by the hand again towards the front, which is a flap where two of the blankets meet . “But it’s more than that, you’ll see.”

He lets go of her hand, grabs the small, portable holoscreen where he’d left it by the entrance, and crawls backwards into the fort. He leaves his upper half out of it and holds out his free hand to her.

“C’mon,” he coaxes. “It’ll only works if you get in.”

She looks slightly wary but obligingly gets down to crawl in with him. He thinks she’s probably just tired, full of desperation for any solution he might be able to offer more than actual belief that this will be able to help. But still, he’s confident.

It’s pretty dark inside when he closes the flap behind her, but he can still see her eyes widen slightly as she takes it in.

“Did you use every blanket and pillow on the ship?”

He might as well have. The outside of the blanket fort is actually just several thick sheets, but inside the bottom is lined with at least six blankets on top of each other and pillows all along the edges, stacked up against the backs of chairs. It’s almost as soft as their actual bed.

“It’s nice,” Gamora says, but he can tell she’s just trying to placate him.

“It’s not much yet,” he says, lying back against the chair where he’d lined up a bunch of pillows for maximum comfort. “But you’ll see. C’mere.”

She sighs softly as she settles in against him, head against heart. He wraps an arm around her to pull her in closer, stroking her shoulder with his thumb.

“Check this out,” he whispers, hitting a couple buttons on the holo he’s placed next to him to bring up the projection system. Then suddenly there are hundreds of tiny lights projected onto the blankets around them, small and dim enough that it’s still not bright, but enough to make the entire place look almost ethereal. Fairy lights, his mother had called them.

He feels more than hears Gamora’s small intake of breath, but she turns her head to see the ceiling more fully. “This…this is nice,” she says in a softer, much more sincere voice than before.

He smiles, proud and also relieved; it would’ve been a pretty big bummer if she hadn’t liked it after all.

“Where did you learn this?” Gamora asks, relaxing marginally against him.

“My mom,” he whispers, gazing up at the lights. “She taught me how to make them right after I found out about… about her cancer. Said it was a place where we could hide from the world.”

“Did it work?”

“For a bit,” he says. “Not forever. But enough to get through the night. I figured maybe it would do the same for us.”

“Tell me more,” she says softly, relaxing a bit more against him. “About the blanket forts.”

He smiles. “Well… we liked to imagine a perfect world. No problems, no cancer. David Bowie released a new album every week.”

She lets out a soft laugh. “What else?”

He tells her everything he can remember, every small, happy detail, keeping his voice low as he feels her relax more and more against him, still talking even as she closes her eyes.

It hasn’t been long, he knows. Gamora has been living with the shadow of Thanos looming over her for most of her life, and it’s going to take more than a few days for her to accept the fact that he’s really gone, and even longer to get over all the fresh trauma of their recent battles; hell, that’s gonna take them  _all_ some time.

He only stops talking when he’s sure she’s fallen asleep. Healing is a long process, perhaps a lifelong one. But they’re starting it, he thinks as he, too, closes his eyes, allowing himself to drift off with her under the lights.

It’s not going to solve everything, but it’s enough to get through the night.


End file.
